Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A52250
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Joseph Aleine by George Newton ...
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Newton, George, 1602-1681.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing N1047; ESTC R16860
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20,159
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39
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us and make us capable of good impressions When there is nothing else but mirth we have light and frothy spirits our fancies rove our thoughts and our imaginations wander But when the Lord presenteth nothing else before our eyes but tears and lamentations this calleth home our thoughts it renders us unto our selves and makes us fit for holy motions We see it by experierience that the very men who when they are upon a merry pin are sensless and incapable of any good they have such vain and foolish hearts when they are brought into a melting frame then they are mild and tame as lambs then they are pliable and flexible and tractable so that a little child may lead them If you visit them if you counsel and advise them for their good then you shall have their ears and hearts too 2. And as the times of grief and tears prepare for grace so they increase and further grace Grace will spring and grow the more for such showers as these are It prospers better in a moist and watred then in a dry and barren soyl And if you search the sacred Story you will find the greatest Weepers to have been the greatest Saints As David Peter yea our Saviour Christ himself Indeed this precious Seed delights to have such dews as these the Seed of Prayer of Repentance yea that Immortal Seed the Word of God doth best when it is sown in tears When we repent in tears our hearts relent and melt most When we preach and pray in tears we move our selves and others most Si vis me flere dolendum Est prius ipse tibi This Seed when it is watred thus springs up the faster and bringeth forth the more plentiful increase 2. These times of grief and tears will end at last and end in joy You shall weep saith Christ to his Apostles but your sorrow shall be turned into joy They that sow in tears shall reap in joy and he that goes forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him There is no doubt no question to be made of that and therefore it is bound with an Asseveration which takes away all scruple from it he shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him It is the custome every where to have good chear and to be merry when they reap So it was among the Jews as you may see Deut. 16. 13 14. And therefore this is used in Scripture to express the greatest joy Isa. 9. 3. They shall rejoyce before thee according to the joy of harvest So though the Christian sows in rainy weather in a weeping time all shall be sweet and calm and fair when the reaping time comes He shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven feeding on the hidden Manna and drinking of the pure and chrystal River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb and there they shall be merry altogether When once he comes to Gods immediate presence he shall have joy full joy yea the fulness of joy Psal. 16. last In his presence is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore 3. The joy that is to come will pay for all It will be such so plentiful and overflowing that it will make a full amends for all your present tears and sorrow It will quite overcome the sense and the remembrance of them Alas our trouble here is nothing in comparison it is a light and easie Burthen Our affliction is but short it continues but a moment but the time is drawing nigh when this little light sorrow shall be wholly swallowed up in endless and unutterable joy This short affliction which lasteth but a moment shall end in everlasting and unmixed pleasures 2 Cor. 4. 17. It worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Oh what transporting comfort is there many times in reaping the first fruits of the Spirit that we are ready to cry out if the first fruits be so sweet what will the Harvest be If the earnest be so great what will the Possession be When we shall be filled and satisfied with the delights that heaven yields to all eternity I could say as Peter once It is good to be here let us build Tabernacles here But I must hasten to another Observation Doct. That we are very subject to misplace our grief and to mistake the Ground and Object of our sorrow So did these Daughters of Jerusalem you see they wept where they should not and they wept not where they should And therefore Christ corrects their sorrow in the Text Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children A great part of the sin and corruption that hath invaded humane nature consists in the disorder and distemper of our passions and affections and lies especially in two things either when we miss the right object or transgress the just measure when they are either ill placed or ill proportioned When we mistake in either of them When we are troubled where we should not or too much troubled where we should we are much to be condemned And both of these we are very subject to The first is pertinent to our purpose we are extreamly apt to grieve and to be troubled where we should not It is no wonder that we find Esau faulty here mistaking in the object of his sorrow He sought Repentance and sought it carefully with tears as you may see Heb. 12. 17. But what Repentance did he seek with tears Alas he missed his mark he sought not his own but his Fathers Repentance feign he would have his Father to Repent of his pouring out the blessing on his younger brother Jacob and consequently to revoke it and to call it back again But when he saw that was not to be done and heard his Father say I have blessed him and he shall be blessed he lifted up his voice and wept Gen. 27. 38 Yea the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour Christ himself mistook in this that they misapplyed their sorrow They were extreamly grieved and troubled that Christ was ready to depart and to withdraw his fleshly presence from them whereas he tells them plainly It is expedient for you that I go away John 16. 7. It is not only expedient for me but it is expedient for you so that here was no real cause of grief and sorrow And hence our Saviour puts a stop upon it John 14. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled q. d. I see that you misplace your grief Come it must not be so I will not have it to be so let not your hearts be troubled Poor Mary was greatly at a loss in this particular she stood beside the sepulcher of Christ weeping John 20. 11. Why what 's the matter The Body of the Lord is gone Had she found him dead there it seems she had been very well content So that her